Re: [Harp-L] RE: Real creativity / Rod Piazza

[brian miller <baguabri@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TOTALLY AGREE with you. Rod is a very soulful musician. how many sucsessful records and tours have these guys that are dissing him done? i also would agree with what kim wilson does on the bandstand night after night is astonishing. it really does seem as though he rarely repeats himself on any given night. that is some high level shit. hummels fresh ideas too relentlesly keep coming at you.

Haka Harri <harri.haka@xxxxxxxx> wrote:  The Iceman wrote:

"I had the same reaction to Rod, hearing him 2 nights in a row. After
the second night, hearing even the "Yeah Baby" vocal inserts in the
exact same places, he was diminished in my opinion of what I look for in
a performer."
-----
I saw Rod Piazza twice at the Lucerne Blues Festival in 2004. The sets
were quite different from one another. The first one was late at night
and was centered on his then most recent album. The second set was a
"Blues brunch" with lots of older stuff. In this set the band was joined
by ex-Mighty Flyers guitarist Alex Schultz. They played for more than
three hours on that early afternoon and the place was rocking. On both
sets Rod and the band seemed to be enjoying themselves and so was the
crowd. I couldn't care less if the solos repeated something played
elsewhere. Improvisation can be really good but it can also be terrible.
I'm happy to witness excellent technique and inspired playing even if it
contains less improvisation.

As to creativity, Rod has released more than twenty albums through the
years. All of them contain new material, a lot of it self penned. From
the earliest Dirty Blues Band releases Piazza has had a distinctive
vocal and harp sound. The albums don't repeat themselves except in the
ears of those who claim that all blues sounds alike. Some of the
recordings are excellent and some are just very good (IMO). Rod Piazza
has also been guest or featured harp player on several artists' albums
inluding Big Joe Turner, Jimmy Rogers, John Lee Hooker and Pee Wee
Crayton. Looking back at his 40 year long career as recording artist and
live performer I would say that Rod Piazza is creative and an icon of
the blues harp.

Harri 

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